


Close Encounters of the Noctambulistic Kind

by 8lackrom



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, rating may change later if I continue this lol, sleepwalker!haruka au, what even are tags i dont
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 10:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3848089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8lackrom/pseuds/8lackrom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, you meet strangers in either the most cliché, ridiculous, or absurd ways.  For college freshman Makoto Tachibana, sometimes you trip over them as they sleep in a park in the middle of the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close Encounters of the Noctambulistic Kind

Makoto, despite his masculine physique, was easily frightened. Horror films, dark spaces, the ocean as a whole- the list of his horrors seemed to stretched on endlessly. As he walked alone, in the unfamiliar streets of Tokyo, towards an apartment that never felt like home, his ears still rang from the loud music at a party filled with strangers. As he crossed through a park, it felt eerier than any cabin in the woods. 

With his hands stuffed into his pockets he marched silently down the brick path, trying not notice the way the lamp ahead flickered ominously and convince himself that the murmurs behind him were simply other college kids out late and not the voices of the dead.   
It’s fine you’re okay you’re safe you’re almost there it’s fine it’s okay you won’t die you won’t die just keep walking keep moving keep walking don’t look at the lamp the lamp is fine it’s fine you’re fine you’re almost there you’re okay-  
His jumbled, heated train of thought was interrupted when he tripped on some large mass- he couldn't see what it was in the darkness- and fell to his knees, scraping his palms in the process. Wildly, he flipped back around, trying to see what it exactly was. As a low, deliberate “fuck,” passed his lips, he shuffled forwards, thinking maybe it was a stray tree root or even a discarded coat. As his hands searched blindly, the tips of his fingers touched first a damp sweater, then cold flesh.   
Makoto screamed.

Searching in the dark once again, this time for his phone, panic surged through him. He could feel his cheeks burning and he stripped off his jacket in his sweaty, anxious state even though it was the middle of October. While his phone trembled in his hands he contemplated calling the police. What would he say? Would he even be capable of saying anything? What if all the operator managed to hear was “yes, hello, I'm a college freshman at a park who tripped over a dead person in the dark and managed to bust themselves up in the process”?   
His inner monologue stopped when the presumed dead person groaned. Makoto almost screamed again, pulling his trembling hands close to his body. Slowly, as if it took immense strength, the figure sat up. Makoto could barely make out a head turning back and forth before finally settling on him.  
“Where am I?” he said slowly, dazed. The man must've been asleep.   
“U-Um, you’re about five minutes away from the nearest station-”  
“What time is it?” the other groaned.  
Nervously he flipped open his phone, unable to read his watch in the dark.“Close to 3:15,” he managed to answer. The “dead” guy said muttered something under his breath, too quick for Makoto to hear.   
“What did you say?”  
“It’s nothing,” he replied curtly. The man lurched forwards, extending fully upright on weary legs. It wasn't hard to notice he shivered where he was standing.   
“Here,” Makoto offered, and stood up to give the jacket he’d taken off earlier to the person; it looked like he needed it more. The only thanks he was given was a short nod. “Um, may I ask how you got out here?”   
The man shrugged. “Things like this happen a lot.”  
“You wake up outside in a park in the middle of the night?”  
“No- well, maybe.... Not exactly,” the man sighed. “I… sleepwalk.”  
“Oh.” Makoto had no idea things like that actually happened. With his eyes rather adjusted to the darkness, he took a moment to observe the man he’d fallen over. Although his face itself was unable to be seen, Makoto could tell he was quite a bit shorter than he was, and his loaned jacket swallowed his slim shoulders.   
“What were you doing here?” the man asked, more than a little suspicious.  
“Oh, I…” he bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. “I kind of tripped over you.”  
“What?”  
“You were on the floor and I wasn’t looking at my feet, I...I was just trying to get home as soon as possible.”  
The man exhaled through his nose briskly. Was he… laughing? “What are you, an idiot?”  
“I am not!” Any shiver that still lingered was chased out by his embarrassment.   
The two returned to silence briefly, Makoto staring down at the stranger in front of him. “D-do you want to go to my place?” the head below tipped upwards at the question.   
“It’s only a short walk away. I have a pullout bed you can stay on, and I don’t know if the trains are still running or if you’d be able to get home-”  
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”   
“Are you sure? I’m kind of clumsy but I don’t snore at all, you can leave first thing in the morning. I’d feel a lot better if you did-”  
“I’m fine!”   
Makoto recoiled, and the hand that he hadn’t even noticed he was extending returned back to his side. “Alright,” he answered, trying his best to sound casual, “It’d be pretty weird accepting that from a person you just met, wouldn’t it? I don’t blame you. I’ll just be on my way-”  
The man sighed loudly. “If I go with you,” he began slowly, “Will you promise to shut up?”   
“O-of course!” Makoto replied, slightly too eager. “I’m Makoto, by the way.”  
“Haru.”  
“Let’s get out of the cold then, shall we?”  
The pair, despite their odd beginning, started towards the same destination. Makoto thought he would need to fight the urge to fill the silence with mindless babble, but found it was easier done than said; the endless cycle of their footsteps, walking in time with each other unknowingly, helped calm any nerves of his that remained. It was comfortable, the way the quiet melted between them and pooled around their marching legs. Whenever they passed under a streetlamp Makoto would sneak a look at the stranger beside him, noticing his jet-black hair was dampened by the cold and his eyes were turned down towards his feet. Makoto looked away whenever he thought he was about to be caught, pretending to be engrossed in something else. 

“We’re here!” Makoto said cheerily, eager to get inside. Although a nice gesture, giving Haru his jacket had left him shivering in his flannel. After spending a good thirty seconds fumbling with his keys he managed to unlock the door. Haru shot forward into his apartment, and Makoto muttered a rushed “thanks for intruding” while he discarded his shoes. He, too, was more than happy to escape the cold. Makoto followed behind him, locking the door and then hanging his jacket- which Haru had apparently shrugged off - upon the hook by the door.   
“Haru?” He called, untying his shoes.   
“In here,” was the muffled reply.   
He walked forward cautiously to find his guest stretched out on the couch, face down, still as a board.   
“Haru, c’mon, at least let me set up the bed, you don’t even have a blanket -”  
“This is fine,” came a stubborn reply. Haru turned away from him, now facing the back of the sofa. “I can’t ask any more from you.”  
“I just want you to be comfortable.”  
“I - I’m really fine, Makoto.” It was an unusually nervous answer from Haru. There was silence for a few moment, but Makoto managed to hear his stifled “thank you.”  
Makoto grinned. Even if he was stubborn, and maybe a little mysterious, Haru wasn’t a bad person. “I’m gonna turn off the lights, then, if you’re really all set.”  
“Mm.”  
“Goodnight, Haru.”  
“G’night.”  
Still smiling, he flicked the lights off, walking the short distance to his room. Reluctantly, he shed his jeans and comfy flannel, trading them for a citrus colored tee shirt and breezy boxers. He collapsed onto his bed, lazily pulling the covers over with one hand.

It was the best sleep he’d ever had since he came to Tokyo.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was inspired by a prompt from this post (http://toxixpumpkin.tumblr.com/post/113277607304/aus-sentence-prompts-i-thought-of-at-4-30am) by toxixpumpkin. Let me also take the time to apologize for any weird formatting, it was copy/pasted from a document on google drive lmao. This is my first published/posted fic so P L E A S E comment and tell me how I did! thank you so much :^)


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